In a free market situation, a business can do what it likes, of course, until they achieve market dominance. Then rules against monopolistic behaviour kick in. Apparently there is already legal action in the States against Amazon for pressuring POD publishers who want to sell on Amazon to use an Amazon-owned POD printer. The other printers are up in arms because Amazon's size means no POD publisher can afford to resist, and other printers feel this is unfair.

Um, yes, I’m in a unique position to be well aware of this. But I don’t think that has anything to do with the subject at hand, really, unless we’re going to start gathering grudges against Amazon because they’re good at their business and better at marketing than Sony.

I hope Amazon opens up and either lets other readers use the Kindle file format, or sells in open format for the rest of the world.

I agree that it’s unfortunate that people can’t go to Amazon and buy if they don’t have a Kindle, but I don’t think Amazon is either obligated to make it so or to open it to a foreign market. However, given the size of their business, they don’t strike me as lacking business sense, and I’d bet good money that availability to those outside the US is something they’re looking into, but because of the unique qualities of the Kindle (the Whispernet and their agreement with a cell phone provider) it wouldn’t be quick work to do this worldwide. In any business, it’s best to start with the smaller market and then grow from there if the market demands it.

What makes me sad is that foreigners, or people who have ebook readers other than Kindle, cannot buy my books through Amazon.

On the other hand, I think it is up to publisher and authors to market their books and provide wide enough distribution that customers can find them in other places. If your book is epublished, Amazon should not be (and certainly isn’t) the be all and end all of buying and distribution. It’s just another venue for it.

What makes me sad is that foreigners, or people who have ebook readers other than Kindle, cannot buy my books through Amazon. That doesn’t make any sort of business sense – unless Amazon has another agenda.

In a free market situation, a business can do what it likes, of course, until they achieve market dominance. Then rules against monopolistic behaviour kick in. Apparently there is already legal action in the States against Amazon for pressuring POD publishers who want to sell on Amazon to use an Amazon-owned POD printer. The other printers are up in arms because Amazon’s size means no POD publisher can afford to resist, and other printers feel this is unfair.

I hope Amazon opens up and either lets other readers use the Kindle file format, or sells in open format for the rest of the world.

Angela,

The strong-arming does not work like that. The Kindle does accept some (many?) file types from outside. The trouble comes because Amazon is by far the largest ebook retailer and has decided to sell ONLY in their own format.

But that wasn’t really what I was commenting on, that’s an entirely different topic of discussion. I was commenting on the capabilities of the Kindle and whether you can purchase books outside the Kindle system. And you can.

Sony doesn’t carry any but their own format of books either. Neither does Ereader.com. I don’t think anyone is going to be able to convince Amazon that they should be held to special rules just because we don’t like it.

And I don’t believe Amazon is the largest ebook retailer. Certainly couldn’t prove it by the statements I see. Are they a growing ebook retailer? Yes, but I think Fictionwise is still the biggest and I don’t think they’d be any more open to someone telling them what they can and can’t do with their business.

o my successful books on Amazon were dumped and 2 years later still have not been re-loaded. And when they finally are, they will only be accessible to people who have a Kindle. People with a Sony reader, or a Bebook like mine, are not allowed to buy them.

So it’s up to your publisher to make sure they set up a partnership with different distributors, such as Amazon, Sony and others, so that all people with all different kinds of readers can read them. I guess I don’t really see why we should “boycott” Amazon for doing what other businesses do.

In the mean time, try not to encourage them!

Since they are valid and good source of income and we have a contract with them that puts us into a business relationship, it would be quite foolish of me not to, don’t you think?

The strong-arming does not work like that. The Kindle does accept some (many?) file types from outside. The trouble comes because Amazon is by far the largest ebook retailer and has decided to sell ONLY in their own format. So my successful books on Amazon were dumped and 2 years later still have not been re-loaded. And when they finally are, they will only be accessible to people who have a Kindle. People with a Sony reader, or a Bebook like mine, are not allowed to buy them. And foreigners are completely ruled out because they are not allowed to buy a Kindle at all.

They are gambling that their proprietary system will become so well accepted in the States that we will stop looking anywhere else for books and magazines, and they will make zillions. I hope that will not happen, and that they will eventually have to start selling ebooks to anyone who wants to buy. In the mean time, try not to encourage them!

As far as I know, there isn’t a reader on the market that locks you into buying only from their store, but of course they’re going to make it easiest to do so.

With the Oprah discount, the Kindle is $100 cheaper than the new Sony Reader, and the Kindle has wi-fi, too. I don’t really care about the wi-fi, but I absolutely detest the idea of being tied to Amazon. I detest the idea of having to buy all my books from them, of them having direct wireless access to my reading device (my slight lust for the iPhone dimmed a bit when I heard about Apple’s killswitch, too), of them having a record of every book I’ve viewed and purchased. I’m concerned about PATRIOT act issues with the Kindle.

When I plunk down my money for a reader, I want that to be the end of it. The company that made my DVD player or my TV doesn’t have anything to do with the shows and movies I watch. Why should the company that makes my eReader get to look over my shoulder at every book I read?

If the Kindle weren’t so expensive and the ebooks expensive compared to my mass market books, I would probably be jumping on the bandwagon right now.

We also have a space problem here for books, with both my SO and I being voracious readers (usually of big hard back nonfiction books plus lots of paperback goodness, LOL!)

So I guess in a round-about-way (as in whee!coupon!) Oprah may be making me buy the Kindle.

I also wonder if the anonymity of the Kindle appeals to her. Only she will know what she reads. She and Jeff Bezos, of course.

When I saw this, my first thought was, “Oprah reads something requiring anonymity??? You sure couldn’t tell from her book club choices!”

(Not that I’m knocking Oprah’s book club choices. I’m just saying that I didn’t see something like The Billionaire Cowboy’s Secret Baby anywhere on her Kindle when she was showing it off on Friday.)

I don’t have Kindle-envy even with all the free books they seem to get. I’m still feeling the burn from Amazon choosing to delete my digital library when they decided to get into the dedicated reader business.

My guess is that Oprah really likes the instant availability that Kindle provides. She doesn't need to have an assistant buy a book and download it for her. She can do that herself.

What a life when “easy” means “I don’t have to get my assistant to do it.”
This just struck me as funny in a surreal way.

I won’t have wireless Kindle access where I live, but I want an ereader so I can read books with suggestive covers (and content) and leave them around the house without my young children or nosy houseguests looking on.

And yes, I do sell and buy books on Ebay or at my local used book seller for credit. It will be interesting to see for myself how my paperback habits change.

Lleo, why I bought an ebook reader: space. I'm running out of space. Also, since I don't go to bookstores all that often (surprisingly) I tend to “overbuy” while I'm there … So now, I download sample pages to remember which books caught my interest, but I don't actually buy until I'm ready to read. It saves me a lot of money and space!

Thanks, Julie. I was just really curious about everyone’s reasons for starting to read them all of a sudden. And I definitely hear you about the space thing.

The most interesting facet to ebooks I’ve heard so far, actually, is that you get to read sample chapters. Not all authors have websites or offer sample pages, so that is a definite bonus to me. And the fact that you get access to free books sometimes is also amazing!

“Is is cheaper for authors to release ebooks?”

It can certainly be, and layout is usually easier than with a print book.

“Is it cheaper for readers to buy ebooks?”

Depends on the publisher. Some presses price e-books the same as hardbacks, which is just insane. Some small presses price e-books cheaper than mass-market paperbacks, which makes them a bargain.

Thanks as well, Dusk. There would be a definite incentive for me to buy ebooks cheaper than hardbacks, besides the obvious convenience of instantly having access to the book I want instead of having to go to the bookstore to get it. :)

And it would be great if authors are writing shorter pieces in between their longer novels that readers would have quick and easy access to these shorter stories.

Am I the only one that goes to the library or paperbackswap or half.com (or amazon or one of the many independent booksellers that do used books on addall.com) when I want an author's backlist?

I only justify buying new paperbacks (and the occasional hardcover) by telling myself that I will re-sell it or at least swap it after I'm done with it. I just don't have the money to buy all new books all of the time, or the shelf space to keep up with my consumption. And I find very few books good enough to keep and re-read someday, anyway.

I should do this more often methinks, Sandy. ;D

Now if I could just find a reader that would also play my audiobooks if I wanted to rest my eyes/listen to Neil Gaiman’s honeyed voice…

“Is is cheaper for authors to release ebooks?”

It can certainly be, and layout is usually easier than with a print book.

“Is it cheaper for readers to buy ebooks?”

Depends on the publisher. Some presses price e-books the same as hardbacks, which is just insane. Some small presses price e-books cheaper than mass-market paperbacks, which makes them a bargain.

One nice thing about e-books is that one can publish shorter works. It wouldn’t make financial sense to publish a novelette in print, because the binding would drive the cost up so much, but a novelette in e-book format works fine.

I read e-books mainly because I’m partially sighted, so I need to read in very large print. But having so many of my books in one place (my computer) is certainly nice.

As for the Kindle, I have mixed feelings about it: my own stories are Kindleized, so naturally I want them to do well, but I agree that an Amazon monopoly would be a very bad thing. Amazon is greedy enough as it is; anyone using their Digital Text Platform to produce Kindle books has to fork over two-thirds of the books’ profit to Amazon.

Theo, it is my understanding that any consumer can return an undamaged product within 30 days for a refund-so is that really a special deal? Maybe I had that wrong; I never return anything.

Nope, not in my ‘book’ ;)

I got the feeling that what they were really hoping was, people would order it ‘risk free’ for those 30 days and then forget to return it. Once charged, people sometimes figure ‘what the heck, I sort of wanted it and now I have it, might as well keep it’.

I’m just not an ereader person. Like I said, if I traveled a lot or there was some other reason where carrying half a dozen books would be ridiculous, I can certainly appreciate the convenience of a reader. But I’m just too tactile and an old fashioned girl I guess. They just don’t appeal to me for my ‘every day’ book and that’s a lot of money to spend to use only a few times a year, for me.

Am I the only one that goes to the library or paperbackswap or half.com (or amazon or one of the many independent booksellers that do used books on addall.com) when I want an author's backlist?

I only justify buying new paperbacks (and the occasional hardcover) by telling myself that I will re-sell it or at least swap it after I'm done with it. I just don't have the money to buy all new books all of the time, or the shelf space to keep up with my consumption. And I find very few books good enough to keep and re-read someday, anyway.

Ditto to this!!!
Though i think it would be really nice to have one of these, i cannot justify the price ON TOP of the price for books and the limited selection.